


Little Temptations

by slateblueflowers



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Scene: Garden of Eden (Good Omens), Snake Crowley (Good Omens), but very determined to do his job, crowley is a smol snake, snekley, technically the image prompt was a blind snake but crowley can see because I Say So, temptation accomplished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24667414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slateblueflowers/pseuds/slateblueflowers
Summary: In the Garden of Eden, Eve spies a serpent. The serpent is small, pink, and the length of her hand.
Relationships: Crowley & Eve (Good Omens)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 41





	Little Temptations

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the aceomens discord - thank you and you're all enabling gremlins.

Eve was wandering through the garden again, somewhat aimlessly. The sky was a brilliant blue (which she would have described as cloudless if clouds had existed yet), reflected by a small stream that wound its way lazily through the Garden. She could feel the soft earth beneath her feet, the space between her toes tickled by grass as green as the leafy trees. The trees were everywhere in the Garden – lined up next to the great walls, clustered near the stream’s natural spring, dotting the hill where Adam now indulged in his daily nap.

One tree stood out among the rest, though. Eve knew it well.

Atop the highest hill in the Garden stood the most beautiful tree Eve had ever laid eyes on. The trunk was thick and sturdy, and the branches were artfully arranged to create soft shade when the sun was highest in the sky. Both Eve and Adam knew full well that _that_ tree was _special_. Forbidden. They were allowed to lay under it, admire it from afar, but not to pluck its fruit and taste it.

Thoroughly bored of walking without direction through the Garden, and without Adam awake to bother or make eyes at, Eve picked her way up the hill towards the tree. She settled herself beneath it and admired the way the sunlight dappled her dark skin. From here she could see the fruit dangling from the branches, shining red as the blood that appeared when she stubbed her toe on a rock a few days ago.

“Looksss good, doesn’t it?” Eve heard a voice say. She looked around, wondering if Adam had woken up from his nap and joined her. There was no one.

“Go on, pull one down. Get a good look at it. Give it a sssniff,” the voice called again, silky, and accompanied by the rustling of leaves in the tree. The voice seemed to prickle at her senses. Craning her neck, Eve searched the branches for the source.

“Over here, human. No – up – over here!”

She heard a rustle and a small thud.

“Human…aren’t you curiousss…about the fruit?” At last, Eve’s eyes landed on a small snake wriggling through the grass to her left. It was small and pink, the length of her hand from fingertip to wrist, and as thin as her fingers.

Eve giggled.

“Hey there little buddy,” she cooed, reaching tentatively towards the snake.

“No!” the snake proclaimed in a squeakier voice than before, darting away from Eve’s grasp, “Eve, focus. The fruit. Look at it up there. Don’t you want a tassste?”

Eve’s gaze turned to the fruit above her once again and debated quietly inside her head. “I mean, maybe. It _does_ look like it could be mighty tasty. It doesn’t even look too different from the fruit on the other trees,” she added, sweeping her hand at the forest of green laid out around the hill.

“That’sss right, it’sss no different from the other fruit. Why would She forbid thisss fruit and not the othersss? It’sss not like it’sss any harder to get to. If She really didn’t want you to eat it, why didn’t She put it somewhere harder to reach? Like…” the snake paused, rearing its head farther off the ground and tilting it questioningly, “like the moon?”

“Ehh,” Eve hedged. Her attention had focused once again on the snake. “Weren’t you in that tree just a moment ago?”

A beat.

“Yesss…I was admiring the fruit…that you should definitely reach out and tassste…”

“Did you fall?”

“Did I – what?” The snake’s tone changed abruptly.

“Did you fall out of the tree?”

“What? No, I didn’t fall out of the tree. I just, sort of, made my way downward more quickly than I had expected.”

Eve snickered into her fist. “Here, let me help you back up,” she said as she moved her hand towards the snake once more. It squiggled away before she could touch it, though, hissing quietly.

“No! Jussst…reach for the fruit, human, I know it callsss to you,” the snake said, returning to the silky voice of before that tugged on Eve’s mind. The snake was right – the fruit _did_ call to her, but so did the pink coil the tiny snake had wound itself into. She wanted to take a bite of the fruit just as much as she wanted to reach out and poke the snake’s nose with her finger.

“If I do take a bite, will you have a taste, too?” Eve asked, holding her hand out for the third time. This time, she didn’t reach towards him directly and just held her hand out flat on the ground in front of it.

The snake slithered slowly, warily, onto her palm. “Yes, I sssuppose I could give it a try.”

A smile spread across Eve’s face as she stood up. She lifted her empty hand up to the tree and plucked a particularly juicy looking fruit. At this, the snake let out a quiet hiss and began to wrap itself around her wrist gently. If Eve wasn’t mistaken, the snake was smiling.

She brought the fruit to her mouth and took a bite. Flavor burst across her tongue, fresh and sweet as the juice filled her mouth, and she let out a small ‘mmm’ as she chewed. The snake stopped its winding abruptly to look at Eve’s face, conveying an intense curiosity with a tilt of its head.

“Oh! Here you go, little guy.” Misunderstanding the reason for the snake’s behavior, Eve brought her hands together so the snake could flick its tongue to the fruit. “What do you think of it?”

“It’s alright, I guesss,” the snake replied, still eyeing her confusedly.

Another voice interrupted the proceedings. “Eve? Where are you?”

“Oh! That’ll be Adam. I bet he would love this; I have to let him have a taste!” Eve said brightly. “Do you want me to set you down?”

The snake didn’t answer immediately, shifting on her wrist a bit. “Sssure,” it said after a few moments. Eve placed her hand on a tree branch and the snake slowly unwound itself from her wrist, draping itself across the stem of a leaf. “Thanksss for the taste, human. Best be off now.”

Eve gave another smile to the snake and turned, heading down the hill towards Adam.

The snake followed her with its eyes as she walked away, confused as to why crawling off of Eve’s hand left an emptiness behind and contemplating the noise she made after tasting the fruit. The snake meant to watch Eve pass the fruit on to Adam to ensure a job well done, but something glinted in the corner of its eye. It swiveled its head and saw for the first time a figure standing atop the eastern wall of the Garden. The snake knew this must be an angel, as it had seen angels posted around the Garden before, but this angel was different somehow. Fabric white as the sun billowed around the figure and its hair seemed to glow. Enormous feathered wings, blindingly white as well, spread out on either side, and the snake found itself wondering what the shade beneath the angel’s wings felt like.

There was something _special_ about this angel, the snake just knew it. The knowledge permeated the snake’s body from tip to snout. 

Knowing full well that an agent of Hell approaching a member of the Heavenly Host was likely not a good idea, the snake simply watched the angel’s robes move in the breeze. At last, curiosity overcame the snake and it slithered back down the tree with care. The snake set its sight on the top of the eastern wall and slowly wriggled its way in the angel’s direction.

* * *

The picture that started it all: 


End file.
